Have you tried “blurring” your site to improve conversions? Try it!

Looking for a quick and easy way to see the impact of your web pages? Try the simple technique of blurring your content to identify what users might really be noticing.

All websites have a common requirement: for visitors to take the next step, also known as your most desired response or conversions.

It’s not enough to have thousands of visitors to your site, you need as many visitors as possible to follow your call to action. You want your visitors to do something on your website – buy a product, sign up to your newsletter, make an enquiry – and your website needs to be designed so that they want to do it.

Visitors decide whether they like your website in just a fraction of a second. And if they don’t like it, they won’t convert.

So how do you know if they will like your website?

Blur it.

Use Photoshop or search for an online photo editor and blur your web page until you can’t read the text.

The process of blurring your site means you avoid the temptation to read the text on your website and can focus on the design. You can see if your colours are harmonious, and the impact of the layout. If you have a well designed site, your eyes will go straight to your call to action. If they don’t, you may need to consider a redesign.

As an example, here’s what the original website looks like:

And here’s how it looks once it’s been blurred:

Was your eye drawn to the bright orange box on the black background? Good. That’s our primary call to action. The three other orange boxes all contain key messages, but aren’t direct calls to action, so they stand out less.

In fact the only concern is that your eye might be taken straight to the image of Susan’s smiling face. Lovely though it may be, looking at her isn’t going to tell you what we need you to do on our website, and this could be affecting our conversions.

Go ahead and try this on your website to see how your web design measures up. Remember you need:

A harmonious colour scheme

A clear call to action

To draw attention to the call to action through colour, white space and placement.

So go ahead and blur your website and seeing if your design could be damaging your conversions.